A Mead Project source page

Originally published as:

Louis Leon Thurstone and E. J. Chave. "Construction of
an Attitude Scale." Chapter 2 in L.L. Thurstone and E. J. Chave, The
Measurement of Attitude: A psychophysical Method and Some Experiments with a
Scale for Measuring Attitude toward the Church. Chicago: University of
Chicago: 22-35.

Editors' notes

We have included this monograph as part of the history of attitude
scaling. It more completely documented the material that Thurstone
introduced to the world in his controversial "Attitudes Can Be
Measured."

The Measurement of Attitude

Chapter 2: Construction of an Attitude Scale

L. L. Thurstone and E. J. Chave

Several groups of people and many individuals were asked to write out their
opinions about the church, and current literature was searched for suitable
brief statements that might serve the purposes of the scale. By editing such
material a list of 130 statements was prepared, expressive of attitudes covering
as far as possible all gradations from one end of the scale to the other.

It was sometimes necessary to give special attention to the neutral
statements. If a random compilation of statements of opinion should fail to
produce neutral statements, there is some danger that the scale will break in
two parts. The whole range of attitudes must be fairly well covered, as far as
one can tell by preliminary inspection, in order to insure that there will be
over-lapping in the rank orders of different readers throughout the scale.

In making the initial list of statements several practical criteria were
applied in the first editing work. Some of the important criteria are as
follows: (I) The statements should be as brief as possible so as not to fatigue
the subjects who are asked to read the whole list. (2) The statements should be
such that they can be indorsed or rejected in accordance with their agreement or
disagreement with the attitude of the reader. Some statements in a random sample
will be so phrased that the reader can express no definite indorsement or
rejection of them. (3) Every statement should be such that acceptance or
rejection of the statement does indicate something regarding the reader's
attitude about the issue in question. If, for example, the statement is made
that war is an incentive to inventive genius, the acceptance or rejection of it

(
23) really does not say anything regarding the reader's pacifistic or
militaristic tendencies. He may regard the statement as an unquestioned fact and
simply indorse it as a fact, in which case his answer has not revealed anything
concerning his own attitude on the issue in question. However, only the
conspicuous examples of this effect should be eliminated by inspection, because
an objective criterion is available for detecting such statements so that their
elimination from the scale will be automatic. Personal judgment should be
minimized as far as possible in this type of work. (4) Double-barreled
statements should be avoided except possibly as examples of neutrality when
better neutral statements do not seem to be readily available. Double-barreled
statements tend to have a high ambiguity. (5) One must insure that at least a
fair majority of the statements really belong on the attitude variable that is
to be measured. If a small number of irrelevant statements should be either
intentionally or unintentionally left in the series, they will be automatically
eliminated by an objective criterion, but the criterion will not be successful
unless the majority of the statements are clearly a part of the stipulated
variable.

The following is a list of the 130 statements about the church with which we
began our experiments. The numbering is quite arbitrary and serves only for the
purpose of identifying the statements in the various tables and diagrams.

LIST OF OPINIONS ABOUT THE CHURCH

1. I have seen no value in the church.

2. I believe the modern church has plenty of satisfying interests for young
people.

3. I do not hear discussions in the church that are scientific or practical
and so I do not care to go.

4. I believe that membership in a good church increases one's self-respect
and usefulness.

5. I believe a few churches are trying to keep up to date in thinking and
methods of work, but most are far behind the times.

6. I regard the church as an ethical society promoting the best way of living
for both an individual and for society.

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7. The paternal and benevolent attitude of the church is quite distasteful to
me.

8. I believe the church has a good influence on the lower and uneducated
classes but has no value for the upper, educated classes.

9. I don't believe church-going will do anyone any harm.

10. I have no interest in the church for my parents had no religion and I
have seen no value in it.

11. I believe in the church and its teachings because I have been accustomed
to them since I was a child.

12. I feel the churches are too narrow-minded and clannish.

13. I believe in religion but I seldom go to church.

14. I think the church allows denominational differences to appear larger
than true religion.

15. I think the church is a good thing. I don't go much myself but I like my
children to go.

16. I get no satisfaction from going to church.

17. In the church I find my best companions and express my best self.

18. I am an atheist and have no use for the church.

19. I feel church attendance is a fair index of the nation's morality.

20. I go to church because I enjoy music. I am in the choir and get musical
training and chorus-singing.

21. I do not understand the dogmas or creeds of the church but I find that
the church helps me to be more honest and creditable.

22. I believe in personal religion but organized religion as represented in
the church has no meaning for me.

23. I am interested in a church that is beautiful and that emphasizes the
aesthetic side of life.

24. The churches may be doing good and useful work but they do not interest
me.

25. I believe the churches are doing far more harm than good.

26. I regard the church today as primarily an educational institution.

27. I believe in sincerity and goodness without any church ceremonies.

28. I believe in what the church teaches but with mental reservations.

29. My only interest in the church is in the opportunities it gives for a
good time.

30. I believe the church ought to have a value but I regret that I have to
quit it as it is.

31. I believe the church promotes a fine brotherly relationship between
people and nations.

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25)

32. I believe the church is bound hand and foot by money interests and
can-not practice the religion of Jesus.

33. I feel the church is petty, always quarreling over matters that have no
interest or importance.

34. Sometimes I feel that the church and religion are necessary and
some-times I doubt it.

35. I go to church because my girl does.

36. I believe the churches are too much divided by factions and denominations
to be a strong force for righteousness.

37. I am only interested in the church for the sake of the social life I find
there.

38. I think too much money is being spent on the church for the benefit that
is being derived.

39. I believe the church is absolutely needed to overcome the tendency to
individualism and selfishness. It practices the golden rule fairly well.

40. I think the teaching of the church is altogether top superficial to have
much social significance.

41. I think the country would be better off if the churches were closed and
ministers set to some useful work.

42. I believe the church provides most of the leaders for every movement for
social welfare.

43. I believe the church represents outgrown primitive beliefs that are based
largely on fears.

44. I believe the church is the greatest institution in our country for
developing patriotism.

45. Some churches are all right, but others are "all bunk."

46. I do not think the church is essential to Christianity.

47. I like our church for it gives young people a chance to have some fun and
yet it is religious.

48. The church represents shallowness, hypocrisy, and prejudice.

49. I do not think one has to belong to the church to be religious.

50. I feel the church services give me inspiration and help me to live up to
my best during the following week.

51. I feel I can worship God better out of doors than in the church and I get
more inspiration there.

52. I believe interest in the church is more emotional than rational.

53. I feel that the church is rapidly coming to apply scientific methods to
its thinking and its promotion of religion.

54. When I go to church I enjoy a fine ritual service with good music.

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26)

55. I believe that if young people are not interested in the church it is the
fault of either their parents or the church leaders.

56. I believe the church is losing ground as education advances.

57. The church has not helped me to any satisfactory ideas of God or the
future. I have had to work out my own ideas.

58. I think one church is about as good as another but some camouflage better
than others.

59. I go to church occasionally but have no specific attitude toward it.

60. I believe orthodox religion is all right but radicals upset the influence
of the church.

61. I go to church because I find the sermon usually interesting.

62. I am interested in the church because of its work for moral and social
reform in which I desire to share.

63. I believe the church would be all right if it kept close to the teachings
of Jesus but it does not and so fails.

64. I feel the need for religion but do not find what I want in any one
church.

65. I think the church is a parasite on society.

66. I think the church is a place for religious instruction of young and old
and is essential in every community.

67. I think the church is after money all the time and I am tired of hearing
of it.

68. I think the church and organized religion is necessary for the
superstitious and uneducated but it should become less and less important.

69. I am careless about religion and church relationships but I would not
like to see my attitude become general.

70. I like the opportunity in the young people's society for discussion and
self-expression.

71. I think the church is valuable for creating ideals and for setting a
person right morally.

72. I think the organized church is an enemy of science and truth.

73. I like to go to church for I get something worth while to think about and
it keeps my mind filled with right thoughts.

74. I enjoy my church because there is a spirit of friendliness there.

75. I believe the church is the greatest influence for good government and
right living.

76. The church is to me primarily a place to commune with God.

77. I do not receive any benefit from attending church services but I think
it helps some people.

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27)

78. I give my money to support the church but I keep out of it because there
is so much petty jangling.

79. I believe the church leaders are afraid to stand up and say what is true
and right. The church is weak.

80. I enjoy a good church service but do not take much stock in the
teachings.

81. If I were picking a man for a responsible job I would give the preference
to a regular church-member.

82. The church does not interest me now but sometime I expect I shall find it
worth while to join.

83. I am attracted to the church by its courageous attack on what is commonly
called impossible.

84. I find the social life of the church too slow and uninteresting and that
is all I care about.

85. I believe the church has done and can do far more for society than any
organization of science.

86. My belief is that the church is more spiritual and a greater force for
good than it was a hundred years ago. It is increasing in value.

87. I think the church is hundreds of years behind the times and cannot make
a dent of modern life.

88. I like church occasionally but do not feel that one should get too ardent
about worship or church-going.

89. I believe the church has grown up with the primary purpose of
perpetuating the spirit and teachings of Jesus and deserves loyal support.

90. I like the ceremonies of my church but do not miss them much when I stay
away.

91. I regard the church as the institution for the development of spiritual
life individually and socially.

92. I believe the church is far removed from the essentials of Christian love
and brotherly kindness.

93. I believe church-membership is almost essential to living life at its
best.

94. I believe the church is as necessary as the school for our social life.

95. I do not believe in any brand of religion or in any particular church but
I have never given the subject serious thought.

96. I regard the church as a static, crystallized institution, and as such it
is unwholesome and detrimental to society and the individual.

97. I think the church is learning more and more how to correlate science and
religion for the good of humanity.

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98. No one attempts to live up to the ideals of the church but it serves as a
good stimulator.

99. To me the church is more or less boring.

100. I believe the church is a powerful agency for promoting both individual
and social righteousness.

101. I believe the church is the greatest institution in America today.

102. I have no desire to attend, join, or have anything to do with any church
I know.

103. I find the services of the church both restful and inspiring.

104. I find more satisfaction in doing church work than in anything else I
do.

105. I think the church is more controlled by magic than by reason.

106. I believe the average of the morals of church-members is considerably
higher than the average of non-church-members in the same social status.

107. The church is needed to develop religion which has always been concerned
with man's deepest feelings and greatest values.

108. I believe the church is full of hypocrites and have no use for it.

109. I never want to miss church for I always get an inspiration from a good
church service.

110. I think the church keeps business and politics up to a higher standard
than they would otherwise tend to maintain.

111. I think the average church has a deadening influence and prevents true
religion.

112. I believe in the ideals of the church but I am tired of
denominationalism.

113. I feel the church perpetuates the values which man puts highest in his
philosophy of life.

114. I believe the church is fundamentally sound but some of its adherents
have given it a bad name.

115. I cannot think through the mysteries of religion but like to get the
assurances of reality, of God, and immortality that the church gives and stands
for.

116. I believe the majority of church-members are shameless hypocrites. They
do not practice what they pretend to do and do not care.

117. I believe the church is working steadily for the application of the
principles of Jesus to all personal-social relationships.

118. I believe the church is an excellent character-building institution for
children.

119. I think the church is a hindrance to true religion for it still depends
upon magic, superstition, and myth.

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120. I think the church is a divine institution and deserves the highest
respect and loyalty.

121. I believe churches are as essential to religion as schools are to
education.

122. I think the church is cursed by a narrow-minded, selfish lot of people.

123. I think the church is necessary but it puts its emphasis on the wrong
things.

124. I support the church because I think it is the most unselfish and
idealistic institution in society.

125. I respect any church-member's beliefs but I think it is all "bunk."

126. I believe the church develops friendships and ideals that help one to
reject low and evil purposes and acts.

127. I think the church seeks to impose a lot of worn-out dogmas and medieval
superstitions.

128. My experience is that the church is hopelessly out of date.

129. I believe the church is doing a good work but will have to work on a
seven-day-a-week program if it is going to keep up with the job.

130. I believe the church is a changing human institution but it has divine
realities behind it. The spirit of God moves through it.

It will of course be noticed that some of these statements are ambiguous and
that others are unsuitable for the present scale because their acceptance or
rejection does not indicate whether the indorser is really in favor of the
church or against it. In fact, many of the statements in this list violate the
several criteria that we have mentioned, but there was a definite plan in
leaving these defective statements in the list. Since there was available a
criterion of ambiguity and a criterion of irrelevance, it was thought best to
retain defective statements in the experimental list so as to see whether these
undesirable statements would be eliminated by the objective criteria. It is
undoubtedly desirable so to devise the technique of attitude scale construction
that a minimum is left for the personal judgment of the investigator as regards
the value of statements of opinion for the scale. It will later be seen that on
the whole the most defective statements are fairly well eliminated by the
objective criteria.

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30)

THE SORTING PROCEDURE

In the present study the subjects were asked to sort the 130 statements into
eleven piles to represent an evenly graduated series of attitudes from those
extremely against the church to those which are very much in favor of the
church. It should be noted that in sorting the statements the subject did not
express his own opinions about the church. He was not asked to state what he
believed about any religious issue. He was asked merely to sort the statements
into the eleven piles, and we think that this sorting will be done similarly by
those who favor the church and by those who are antagonistic to the church.

The 130 statements were mimeographed on small slips, one statement on each
slip. A set of these 130 slips was given to each subject. He was also given
eleven master-slips of the same size lettered from A to K. Only
three of these slips were labeled as to the kind of opinions that should be
placed on them, namely A, which contained the statement, "This pile expresses
highest appreciation of the church"; K, which contained the statement, "This
pile expresses strongest depreciation of the church," and the slip F, which
contained the statement, "This pile contains only neutral expressions."

It is a fundamentally important matter that the eleven piles should not be
described except to give a starting-point such as neutrality and the two ends.
If the eleven piles were defined by descriptive phrases such as is customary on
rating scales of various kinds, the fundamental characteristic of the present
measurement method would be destroyed. The reason for this is that the intervals
between successive piles should be apparently equal shifts of opinion as judged
by the subject. If they were labeled by descriptive phrases such as the steps in
a graphic rating scale, the intervals would be defined by the descriptive
phrases and there would be no guaranty that the successive intervals appear
equal to the subjects. The intervals, if described by the investigator, would be
arbitrary and set by him. It is essential that the subject

(
31) be given the freedom to adjust the slips in the piles so that the
intervals in attitude from one pile to the next seem to him to be equal. That is
the unit of measurement for the present scale.

The detailed instructions given to the subject were as follows:

DIRECTIONS FOR SORTING SLIPS

1.The 130 slips contain statements regarding the
value of the church. These have been made by various persons, students, and
others.

2.As a first step in the making of a scale that may
be used in a test of opinions relating to the church and religion we want a
number of persons to sort these 130 slips into eleven piles.

3.You are given eleven slips with letters on them,
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K. Please arrange these before you in regular
order. On slip A put those statements which you believe express the highest
appreciation of the value of the church. On slip F put those
expressing a neutral position. On slip K put those slips which express
the strongest depreciation of the church. On the rest of the slips
arrange statements in accordance with the degree of appreciation or depreciation
expressed in them.

4.This means that when you are through sorting you
will have eleven piles arranged in order of value-estimate from A, the highest,
to K, the lowest.

5.Do not try to get the same number in each pile.
They are not evenly distributed.

6.The numbers on the slips are code numbers and have
nothing to do with the arrangement in piles.

7.You will find it easier to sort them if you look
over a number of the slips, chosen at random, before you begin to sort.

8.It will probably take you about forty-five minutes
to sort them.

q. When you are through sorting, please clip the piles together, each with
its letter slip on top. Replace the eleven sets, clipped carefully, in the big
envelope and return to E. J. Chave, Room 306, Swift Hall, University of Chicago.

10. Put your name and university classification on slip inclosed.

Each subject was asked to indicate by number the two statements in each of
the eleven piles which seemed to him to be most representative of that pile.
This was intended to facilitate the selection of the statements to be used in
the final scale but it is doubtful whether this procedure will be retained in
this form in future scale construction.

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32)

The returns were tabulated so as to show for each subject the pile in which
he placed every one of the 130 statements. From such a tabulation the data were
assembled into Table I, which is a summary of the sorting of the 130 statements
by 300 subjects. The first column of the table gives the code number of the
statements by which they may be easily identified. The next two columns contain
the scale-value and the Q-value, which is a measure of the ambiguity of each
statement. These two measurements will be explained in a later paragraph. The
remaining columns give the accumulative frequencies for each statement. The
interpretation of this part of the table for statement No. I as an example is as
follows. None of the 300 subjects placed statement No. I in any of the first
five piles. This is indicated by the entries of o.00 in each of the first five
columns. In this group 8 per cent placed this statement in pile F; 17 per
cent placed it in F or G; 23 per cent placed it in F, G, or H;
33 per cent placed it in pile I or to the left of that pile; 52 per cent
placed it in pile J or to the left of that pile, while all of them placed this
statement in pile K or some-where to the left of K.

THE CONSISTENCY OF THE INDIVIDUAL SUBJECT

In an experiment of this sort in which large numbers of subjects participate,
and in which the experimenter does not have the opportunity to observe each
subject at work, one must expect that some subjects will do their task in a
perfunctory or careless manner. It is also possible that some subjects fail to
understand the experiment or fail to read the mimeographed instructions
care-fully enough to understand just what is wanted. It has seemed desirable,
therefore, to set up some criterion by which we could identify those individual
records which were so inconsistent that they should be eliminated from our
tabulations. The labor of tabulating the data is considerable, and we are
justified in eliminating those individual subjects who have not responded with
sufficient care or interest.

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33)

<insert Table 1>

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It is also an important consideration to avoid any criterion of inconsistency
for the elimination of careless or indifferent subjects which may constitute in
effect an artificial loading of the main results of the investigation. As a
criterion for eliminating individual subjects we adopted the rule that any
subject who placed 30 or more of the 130 statements in one of the eleven piles
was excluded. This objective criterion eliminated a number of subjects who were
known to do the sorting of the statements carelessly and still others who showed
in conversation that they had evidently failed to understand the instructions.
We do not believe that this is in any sense an infallible criterion but it has
undoubtedly served to eliminate many of the subjects whose sortings were
careless or who misunderstood the instructions. In the entire group of 341
subjects who participated in the original sorting of the 130 statements 41 were
eliminated from our final tabulations by this criterion.

Notes

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